Crescent Fantasist: Amanojaku and The Six Quests
by icicle-bardiche
Summary: Another day, another incident and this one doesn't look easy so far. With no clues to follow, grudge-filled humans on her tail and another set of mismatched youkai running amuck, Reimu teams up with Seija Kijin to stop the mysterious villian on the run! Literally nothing can go wrong now, can it?
1. Embark on the Noblest of Missions

_Under a gushing waterfall, all rock ultimately goes to null._

 _Despite all of its sages' claims, Gensokyo was nothing but fragile stone, falsely sheltered beneath a thin layer of fabrications and deceit._

 _And the cataract of anarchy was only moments away from its descent onto the hidden land._

XXXX

It was almost midnight in the human village, however it was in the height of panic, lit faintly by an ominous amber glow. People ran about shrieking, fleeing and searching for one another amid the alarm that consumed the once serene place, some ones even trampling one another in their rush. The cause for their fright was none other than a horrible fire, a raging inferno that had shockingly and frighteningly consumed masses of the village houses in an instant. Water did nothing to stop the wild blaze; even appeared to feed it more and more as the flames grew into bloodcurdling, scorching pylons, stretching far into the night sky. Those who managed to escape were the lucky ones, most have been consumed by the unforgiving fires and turned into nothing but burnt husks frozen into shapes of absolute horror and distress. Once sturdy buildings collapsed like matchsticks, crisp and ashen, crushing beneath them any unlucky pheasant who happened to run the wrong way in their fear-induced agitation. Hours passed in this limbo of insanity, the usually silent forest nearby tainted with the echoing wails of the dead and dying.

Little did they know, it was only the beginning.

Walking off into the forest, retreating from the inferno were two figures speaking amongst one another. "Was this aimless carnage really necessary?" asked the shorter one, walking with unnaturally long steps on mismatched legs. "Their lives are expandable, my dear." The taller figure, cloaked in robes left blighted earth and succumbing fauna in her wake. A crescent moon shone lighting up the night sky, illuminating their inhuman figures. "The first match needed to be lit and now, we observe as this world receives its fitting punishment."

Okina watched from one of her many, many doors, Mai and Satono both on each side of her, the two servants appearing quite shaken by the sight. Unfortunately for them, every sound, every sight, and every degree of heat could be experienced in full. A few seconds of silence passed before Satono mustered the courage to speak. "Master, what is this?" She asked, unsure what to think. "Who could do this?" Despite being human once, probably, she was completely unfazed by the graphic aspects of those deaths, but the notion sent her stomach into a whirlpool.

Okina closed her eyes, placing both palms together in deep thought. Inhaling sharply through her nose, she then gestured to the two dancers. "Mai, Satono, bring me Yukari Yakumo. Tell her this matter is of complete urgency." However before they could comply, the manipulator of boundaries had already manifested in the room. "Goodness me, Matara, you're _that_ uncertain of your judgement?"

"Not at all, I only wished to keep you in the loop." Okina said pleasantly, shutting the door to the human village and banishing it away. She then called another as Yukari took a seat onto one of her many many gaps. "Hmph. I take it they're already here?" In response, the god of backdoors gestured to another door, where many shapeless figures could be seen, with a particular smile both Mai and Satono knew meant that she was up to no good. "I have them right beneath my palm."

XXXX

The village was still rebuilding a couple weeks later, the damage was just too great. The number of both human causalities and property losses had exceeded any other in the history of youkai attacks.

Reimu and Marisa have been investigating the incident for days afterwards with no avail. All the possible suspects – the immortal Mokou, those Lunarian refugees, even the incarnated drum Raiko – denied ever causing such a scene, expressing abhorrence over such a useless slaughter. They had all the right to, after all; such impractical killing only fed the anti-youkai ideology spreading amongst humans – and increased the quiet boiling hostility between them. Not even the most violent youkai admitted to such a crime, which left Reimu staring at a dead end for days and Marisa going on random witch hunts – quite literally. She'd gone around to everyone in Gensokyo – even those backdoor lot – but found no answers so far, told Reimu she was giving up after showing up after a week of endless hunts, looking the most forlorn in ages. Sighing, Reimu dropped the newspaper she was holding to the wooden steps of her shrine; an article on the front page demanding justice for the deceased in the "Inferno Incident", as the tengu reporters have called it. Beating up everyone brought no results, crossing boundaries only got Yukari's attention – for 4 seconds, at least – and not even she could find her own way around this clueless hunt. She looked at the shrine grounds, vacant as always but suddenly giving out a feeling of dread, as if the souls of the dead still hung threating over her head, wanting to be avenged. As the Hakurei shrine maiden, she had to seek the culprit and exterminate them, whoever they were; it was only fair to the taken lives, but where could they be?

It was as if she was looking for a youkai that didn't exist.

"Would you look at that, the oh-so-fantastic shrine maiden can't find a simple everyday arsonist." Reimu looked up from the cobblestone pathway to meet a face she'd rather bash in at the first given opportunity. Seija Kijin casually smiling from her perch over the maiden's forever empty donation box. "Well thank the gods I decided to show up, or don't. I don't need your useless thanks anyway." Reimu stared down the filthy, obviously worn-out youkai, and fought the urge to break every single remaining bone in the amanojaku's body or beat her to a pulp with impossible spell cards. Still, she visibly grimaced at the choice she was being forced into. She needed every help she could get at the moment – even if it came from the most hated person in Gensokyo. "What are you doing here?" she asked, and the youkai's horns bounced along as she feigned surprise. "Why, aren't you just disgusted to see me? Don't you want to kick me in the gut?" Reimu wanted to kick more than just Seija's gut but kept it to herself as she walked away and picked up her old trusty broom, swiping aimlessly at the wooden porch. "I honestly couldn't care less, but I'm too busy to hear you and the princess chew over those crazed revolution fantasies or even beat your ass." To her shock and revolt, however, the arduous youkai burst in laughs. "WHEW, a **serious** incident? This calls for a celebration – party's at my place!"

In seconds, the amanojaku's upturned collar was clutched firmly in Reimu's fist, the broom clattering to the floor against the planks. "You better stop playing around and tell me what in the seven hells are you doing here, or else-" she yanked up Seija a few inches off the ground, threating, but she just rolled her eyes in response. "If you insist on knowing, I just came to feed on the hate oozing out from your little beloved fleshy sack Townsville only to realize it wasn't aimed at me." The sarcasm dripped from Seija's tone like venom as she released herself from the shrine maiden's grasp, pointing at herself with misplaced pride. "I'm _the_ most hated in Gensokyo, there are RULES against not hating me-" there weren't, but Reimu was going to let it slide and coddle her on that one. "- and it says so right in my title that I'm the only one who gets to flip Gensokyo heads over heels, so whoever thinks they can rob me of that courteous profession are in for a beating." She pokes out her tongue. "Come on~ you're pissed, I'm pissed, let's make a deal!"

The shrine maiden stared into those ruby eyes for a solid minute, trying to find out if Seija was actually honest. She wasn't telling the truth regardless of the situation, amanojaku aren't exactly the most transparent youkai; but at least Reimu could see that the trickster was genuinely bothered by the whole ordeal, even if her reasons to do so – and literally anything else that came out of her mouth – were all literal bullshit. "So what do you suggest? Not another 'uprising' I hope."

The horned youkai shook her head and grinned with her hands up dramatically, apparently going into some sort of generic amanojaku sales pitch. "No, this one's an original idea, you dig those." The unimpressed shrine maiden deadpanned, and you could sense the spell card tingling in the air. "What." She said through grit teeth. Sweating profusely Seija tried to salvage the situation, being Gensokyo's rust-coated silver tongue and all. "Look here Reims-"

"It's Reimu."

"Yeah whatever Memo… Your main problem is that you have no idea who's causing a scene, right? Well I just may happen to know a way to turn the tables on whoever's running this shit show, regardless of their sleazy backhanded tricks." She sticks a sharp-nailed hand into her… less than average cleavage and pulls out a scrap of paper, soiled and dirty with the amount of dirt and sweat it absorbed. With a flourish she hands it over to Reimu to see, but the brunette refuses her generosity. "Knowing you it might curse me by the touch." Seija looked genuinely offended, but retreated still. "UGH OK, but don't listen – I sound like an idiot when I try to be cinematic." She clears her throat, strikes a pose, and starts to read. "If we keep talking about this we'll get the fucking amanojaku out there who can flip shit on our ass – wait I wasn't supposed to read from that part… uh let me see…"

"Make it quick or I'll sic Yukari on you."

"OH YEAH! Let me tell you chum friend buddy good pal, about Amenosagume."

"Who?"

"Are you stupid? All amanojaku know who Amenosagume is she's like our... ohm... great grandmother or something, who told the truth but got mutilated because a bad omen looks so much like a messenger bird. Long story short she got cursed and is now a heavenly/earth god something amanojaku something but, I found out where she is! She's holed up on the moon and guess who beat up the moon people? You."

Reimu was about to say she never did that, until she remembered boasting about it in a post-incident celebration once. Not willing to decimate her pride in front of Seija – Seija, of all the goddamn youkai offering her companionship, just what has she turned into? – she sighed, unsure how to respond. "What are you suggesting?"

"I say we go to the moon, ask her to use her powers to alter fate in our direction and eventually the big boss behind the incident won't be able to get any murder done – and then show themselves so you can beat their ass! Unlike youkai sages or those lame-ass earth gods who don't give two shits about your humans she'd be _totally_ willing to help a fellow amanojaku and her pet – ah… friend… shrine maiden person." Seija did backflips to face the shrine maiden. "With me on your side, no youkai will be a match for us, but with her on our side we'll solve this incident in no time – and rub it in everyone's faces!"

This sounded so ominously like a the start of a bootleg RPG game, but Reimu didn't know what bootleg meant, or what was an err-pee-gee game. Nonetheless, she had run out of options long ago, and could only shake her head and repentantly agree. "Alright, but if this is a trick, I won't hesitate to exterminate you. I'm serious, complete extermination. I did it once and I'm not scared to do it again."

"SPLENDID! Now, onward! We have no time to waste!" the amanojaku bounced in her step as she ran off, leaving Reimu traveling at her own pace, using the frightened birds and poofing fairies as a guide to her "partner"'s - term used extremely loosely here - path.

Oh, the things she did for the sake of Gensokyo.

XXXX

 **A/N:** **[EDITED ON 15/11/2018]**

 **Well isn't this a pleasant surprise, I'm alive! This chapter was edited to tone down some pretty violent themes, blood, etc., and also to add a snippet of information I missed that created some sort of plothole. And nobody wants these now, right?**

 **If you liked it, remember to RR as there will be more chapters soon!**


	2. Getting Over This (Hopefully)

Sunlight poured in through the thicket of branches above, the forest crowded by critters and fairies alike, both bustling with activity. Little clouds hung overhead today – it was a nice morning and actually fit for adventure. The earth was soft beneath Reimu's shoes as she walked, hearing leaves crunching under her step, noting how peaceful and serene the wilderness sounded. Strange, that even after such a terrible event nature proceeds unaffected, but life waits for no one now, does it? _After all, we had so much free time on our hands. We could've seen it coming or even prepared for such an occurrence._ Despite how much she hated to admit it, the shrine maiden was caught flatfooted. Off-guard. Now she had to resort to... unsavory techniques that took the form of the little, lazy youkai slapping away branches ahead of her and getting slapped herself by others. Since when did she even associate herself with the vile pest-?

Right. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

All of a sudden, Seija stopped and put her hands on her hips, humming as she looked over the road. "That tree looks familiar…" Reimu still deep in reflection bumped into her back and did a double take, now cross. "Hey, why'd you stop?" She barked, more annoyed at being torn from her thoughts than the unnecessary physical impact. "I said the tree looks familiar." The amanojaku's response was flat, like her word was an unwritten law. Sure enough, the pale, dwindling tree had six sets of footsteps next to it, all identical in shape and size. "Of course it would, we passed that same tree three times! Don't you have some upside down map to follow or something?" Hearing this, the horned youkai bit her finger and looked around, apparently trying to feign concentration to avoid the question. "What? Hah, why would I need that?" She scoffed, waving her free hand about as if her face was being attacked mercilessly by flies. Reimu was about to protest, but the amanojaku started taking her path through a thicket of bushes and shaking off those that clung to her dress, completely ignoring the daggers being glared into her back. At least this route was different, but slowly Reimu started feeling like Seija had no clue where to go; it was only reinforced by the idea she most likely was running blind through the woods with the shrine maiden in tow. She simply sighed, tried to console her frayed nerves by thinking about how this incident will soon be solved and she can then throw a nice party, maybe invite Marisa over and share some of the credit for once – nah, it was better to just work it all out over sake and forget that this unsavory experience ever happened. That _if_ Seija stopped rambling about how excellent her internal compass was.

"… and it doesn't look like it but I can find my way in an inverted castle while it's upright! I'll have you know my sense of direction is unequaled; even the princess said that she'd never – Ah, how spectacular... A crossroads." It was true, the path divided into two and stretched off into the woods. The way onto the right lead into what looked like the Bamboo Forest while the other skewed to Youkai Mountain. Staring over the roads, and then at one another, the two fell into an uncomfortable silence soon broken by Reimu. "Let's go to Youkai Mountain." Now it was the amanojaku's turn to protest. Her eyes widened in overdramatic shock and confusion, most likely not aware of the secret path to the moon stretching from the lake up there. "What? Seriously?! Even a rodent can see that we should go to the Bamboo Forest." She gestured dramatically at the dirt path, appalled. "We'd have to wait years if we're going to take another rocket up there – and not get killed by the Lunarian defense systems." She shook visibly, her facial expression one of disgust. Reimu couldn't blame her, the only taste she'd ever gotten from the Lunar Defense Corps was Reisen and she'd have given her more than she asked for. However, she didn't question how an earth youkai like Seija knew about the lunarians or their weaponry, but simply ignored it instead. _She probably asked around._ "At least it's better than wandering around lost till night falls." The shrine maiden started pulling Seija down the left path, not flinching when she felt thrashing against her grasp. "But the goons at Youkai Mountain hate my guts!"

Reimu put a hand to her forehead. "Seija, everyone hates your guts."

"Why don't you just go there alone?"

"You said it yourself. Amanojaku blood ties or something, remember? This Amenosagume won't listen to me, unless I beat her. And if I do I'd get every Lunarian in the capital on the hunt for my head." With that, Reimu deemed the discussion over – at least on her end, as the black haired youkai kept groaning on and on for at least a solid hour and whining about how 'unfair' this is. They ventured deeper through the thicket of trees, occasionally stumbling across a fairy or two. Keeping her hold on the back of Seija's collar Reimu received some far too friendly waves and calls from passing villagers and youkai together, all seemingly believing she'd captured the amanojaku plotting a heinous deed. Well, she might as well tell the youkai off for all the things she's done, especially pilfering her shrine with the Miracle Mallet – along with Shinmyoumaru strapped to its hilt and screaming like a frightened squirrel. Reimu couldn't believe how fast those two got back together – it's like the princess really wanted to have the wool pulled over her eyes over and over or worse, thought she could rehabilitate Seija with her innocent forgiveness. She'd 'be angry' for a while and then literally throw herself out the window looking for the troublesome brat. Still, it appeared she's started to forget about her association with Seija, especially after Tenshi showed up again, but the shrine maiden still had her fears.

Reimu's told her numerous times that all amanojaku just want to cause trouble, that they don't make friends and would only cause harm, and Shinmyoumaru's responded numerous times with the same old "Ok, I'll think about it." "Ok, I'll fight her seriously." "Ok, I'll take back all of the mallet's magic back this time." "Ok, I won't sharpen my needle sword on coins from your donation box." "Ok, ok, ok – Seija's trying to break into the castle again, can we talk about this later?" Spoiler alert? She never did any of that. Not even brought it up again. Even until today, the shrine maiden still found that a healthy portion of her donations was so badly scratched up that it was almost useless.

"We're here! Now what?"

Silence.

"Hey, snap out of it." A long-nailed hand waved in front of her face, far too close for her liking. "Don't do that." She said, slapping Seija's hand away. The amanojaku was quiet for a minute, then after not getting a response she cleared her throat rather loudly – something people do when they need attention for something or when they don't know what to say. "Oh Rey-Rey, it's quiet isn't it?" She said nonchalantly, stretching her arms up and leaning up against a tree. "Yeah. It's quiet." Reimu's eyes narrowed in suspicion at the peaceful atmosphere. Crows perched on nearby trees, but not a single caw escaped them. Something around just felt off, like they were being watched. "Too quiet."

"Up here on Mt. Misfits this surely doesn't mean any good. Those damned tengu are going to jump us soon and I really don't want to wash in the lake again, that fish-brained mermaid almost killed me last time." The amanojaku visibly winced, rubbing her cheek with one hand. "Those fins slap hard."

"Is this going to be another story?" Reimu rolled her eyes. "You've told enough on our way here."

"Someone mentioned stories?"

Jumping out of seemingly nowhere, Aya burst out from the thicket of trees and snapped a couple of pictures at maximum tengu speed, blinding them both. "The Hakurei Shrine Maiden seen with wanted amanojaku – could this be the end of anarchy this youkai has brought upon Gensokyo?" She said in her best 'dignified journalist' tone, to which Reimu simply muttered something disgruntled. Aya's meddling practices were always focused around her and the other incident solvers whenever a big incident took place or just when the crow tengu felt like going out and interrogating people – and it never brought nice things her way. Her stories tended to be exaggerated and often biased, using shock value and enforced stereotypes to gather sales and feedback, despite carrying the silver of truth within. If anything, the reporter always gravitated towards rough treatment when it came to people, or at least that's what her interviewees claimed. Either way, Reimu didn't want to deal with it. But she had to. "Actually, I'm busy solving the incident everyone wanted me to address. So can you excuse me, I really don't have time for an interview, and I can't wait to get this over with." The last part was muttered to herself, but she could see Seija smirking a little at her exasperation. Typical of an irritating creature with no purpose but being a prick in one's back.

"And what is Kijin doing with you again?"

She had expected it. "She has information on the incident's culprits." Not a lie, but not a truth either. Just enough for Aya to accept. However, the tengu shook her head with a wry smile, not letting the shrine maiden take another step away before feeding her some actually valuable material. Aya knew better than to try and prevent Reimu from going up the mountain again, especially since she was in the company of such a… disagreeable individual, but she still did her best to passively-aggressively postpone her trip up before Momiji got a whiff of them. Quite literally.

"Come on, can't you offer me some more info? I've always been good to you, Reimu – best friends and all, we solved an incident together, remember?" Stretching once more, Seija took it as a sign to leave. She should've waited, which is exactly why. You don't ask a contrarian why they don't do the expected now, do you? Ignoring Reimu's feeble attempts at dodging the journalist, she simply wandered off in the direction of the mountain path, humming pleasantly to herself and thinking about how pissed off Reimu would be the moment she finds out. Of course she would throw a threat here and there, but she needed Seija on the moon – it was literally her last hope. And if you want to get an amanojaku to do as you say, you must bear with the trouble, anarchy and basic douchebag behavior that comes along. More bad than good, but it's worth it in her bird-eyed sight. Enough for Seija to wrap the shrine maiden around her finger. _She wouldn't lay a hand on me, that snobbish Hakurei. Dumb woman needs me more than I need her._

Which brought her back to the topic that's busied her for the last few days.

The moon.

The temple.

Amenosagume.

She slowed down to a pause on the cobblestone footpath, watching how it twisted around the mountain like a grey snake. Clouds drifted overhead, it was still early in the morning and nobody had gotten to their work yet. She was lucky to have gotten hang of the shrine maiden on her morning sweep. Faintly, she could see the moon in the sky amongst dwindling wisps of cloud. It would vanish any second now. A little disk of snowy silver in a bright sky, looking as pure and as peaceful as always. Seija raised her hand as if to shelter her eyes from the faint light – an idiosyncrasy of hers that she'd picked up through years of hiding away and being chased relentlessly through generations and generations of feeble-minded humans. She'd lived long past her lifespan, but things were becoming harder for her to deal with. Changing times, different youkai, all sorts of new species greeted her every time she emerged from underground. Always a new set of faces to tackle her to the ground and shove her face in the dirt, fueled by some deep-set hatred to the amanojaku kind. The world was altering itself drastically by the second, and here she was. Exactly the same way she's been 240 years ago, when she'd got her first taste of adulthood – a new experience of a mother's punch to the face, the sincerest act of kindness you would see from an amanojaku. Too bad they all died off. Well, all of them except one.

How did she even end up begging a heavenly god for guidance?

 _Ask and you shall be answered._ The suggestion was tempting. It sounded like a chance at acquiring power, and Seija's thirsted for such an opportunity her whole life. Rain had soaked her to a shivering mess, and after a tangle with the werewolf she wasn't willing to take another step into the dark wilderness of the bamboo forest. She'd tripped over it while running from the werebeast – A palm-sized, pearlescent statue of a one-winged figure, well-worn with age, half buried into the dirt, most likely revealed by the pouring rainfall. The sheer touch of it dripped with energy, and it was there lying about for every youkai who crawled this filthy earth to use. It wasn't a tool, and she couldn't get the energy to flow out for her to utilize, but on the other hand it gave her a sense of safety, even if random hunters chased her down through the night and almost shackled her to a boulder to send her tumbling to her doom.

She couldn't find it in her to just throw it away. It was still in her pocket, its weight comforting her tense nerves. Like she wouldn't be worried about going about nonchalantly with the same person who emotionlessly exterminated a youkai. Seija's seen amanojaku and youkai alike die all the time in all sorts of ways, but extermination's always been the scariest. Every other method just got rid of youkai's physical body, being exterminated destroyed their souls as well. Their life, their essence, gone in the flick of a wrist. The moon loomed above the whole time, adorning the sky with its soft, barely visible shape. At least she'd gotten rid of that tedious shrine maiden for now.

Unless Rei- _Hakurei_ had some magic rabbit to pull out of her butt there was no way they could get there fast enough before the world mysteriously burns to the ground. Shaking her head, she snorted. Trusting people – ha! Stupid thing to do. She might as well go and swoon Shinmyoumaru again with a fake marriage proposal, at least that had some success percentage. Something rattled the branches behind her, and Reimu emerged looking around livid until her eyes settled on the uninterested youkai waving lazily to her from the mountain's base. "What the _heck_ Seija?"

"What?"

The shrine maiden tried to speak calmly, obviously seething. "Wasn't it you who came up with this whole association idea?"

"Yeah, so what?" Seija just shrugged casually, chill about the situation. It felt for a second like they weren't in a race to save Gensokyo. Hearing her words Reimu spoke through grit teeth, waving her purification rod menacingly in the air. "So don't wander off like that next time. What if you go and die on me?" A likely preposition, despite being unfortunate. "Come on, I thought you're smarter than this." She said, sighing and elbowing past the amanojaku when she didn't get a response. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence though, Seija had followed her, keeping a fair distance. "Tsk. Fair enough. Now what?" she asked, her tone laced with annoyance. "Now," Reimu looked up at the long path. It would take them hours to scale it on foot, time which they couldn't afford. Flying would be much easier. "Follow me." She rose in the air, waiting for Seija to do the same before she noticed how particularly unnerved she appeared at the sight of the shrine maiden taking flight. "What- Why would I?" She grumbled to herself. The sudden hostility was uncalled for, more of a reminder of the amanojaku's revulsion of her before it melded into some quiet passiveness. It seemed off at best. "I'm not going up there with you in the air." She said, crossing her arms.

"Come on, trust me a little in return, would you?"

The disbelief lingered in her words. "So you could shoot me right out of the sky the moment I do something 'unnerving'? No thanks, my plan, my rules." Reinstating how she was in control, Seija took to the footpath and simply ignored Reimu, walking up the mountain on her own. Reimu's eyes narrowed, and she grew even more aggravated at this behavior. Just who did that little pest think she is? She did come up with the whole idea and was vital to its success, but making the shrine maiden tag behind her like a wet dog was just unacceptable. She would never succumb to such behavior under normal circumstances.

But this was an emergency. And in times of trouble one must offer sacrifices, even if they were in the form of one's pride. Shaking her head for the billionth time this day, Reimu landed a few steps before the amanojaku who stood contemplating her with uninterested eyes. "Fine. Happy now?" she said, frowning.

"Much." Seija took to walking again, flashing a prideful smile in Reimu's direction. "Just remember it'll all be over in no time. Or don't; your anger is entertaining, y'know."

* * *

"Master Sharin!" Footsteps echoed against marble floor, as the docile figure made her way past tall pillars and down a large gold-ornamented hall to the lone wooden altar standing at its end. In her arms was a small silver amulet with a diamond within that projected swirling shapes against the walls as she ran. Kneeling at the altar was the robed figure from before, now appalled at being rudely interrupted from what appeared to be a state of prayer. Beside her was another figure with yellow eyes and bushy hair, one the messenger did not recognize. "What is it now? I told you not to disturb me."

The small figure, pale as snow with glistening red eyes held up the amulet for her to see. In its jeweled surface, the image of two individuals – a youkai and a human – was reflected. "The shrine maiden is on the move, just like you said." She watched as Sharin rose to her full height and snatched the amulet from her hands, examining it thoroughly. The other simply followed her around like a ghost. _So, they are indeed desperate._ "An amanojaku and a shrine maiden, working together." The master snorted as she spoke to her companion who did not reply, opting to watch Reimu and Seija make their way up past the tengu village instead. "Pathetic."

The herald raised her head, not yet finished delivering her message. "That isn't all. Youkai of the forest are also grouping amongst themselves. They want to seek us out."

"I am aware."

"What should we do?"

Sharin looked over the amulet one more time before throwing it to her companion who caught it with one inhuman paw. "We? _We_ aren't doing anything. You are going to watch over the doorway and make sure this place remains untouched." She gazed over the altar one final time before turning to the doors. "I'll see the shrine maiden myself." The messenger simply sighed in relief, glad she didn't get shanked for being incompetent and arriving late. Just a simple ghoul before, now working – quite unwillingly – at the hands of a vengeful cleric. What has her life gone to? She shook her head, sitting on the floor and resting her weary legs, brushing leaves from her long black hair and cursing how it tended to cling to branches at the worst moments. The journey all the way back from the Forest of Magic was grueling to say the least.

At the gateway, the two took to the skies. "They think I'm scared of their little alliance, huh…" Muttered the cleric to herself, more disgusted than annoyed at their nerve. She looked over to her companion – the very same one who followed her around for ages now. Sure was ironic to carry around a werehyena while being a notorious figure herself, but the little beast's proven herself to be more trustworthy than anyone else. "Hiba, go to the woods. Make quick work of this union."

The werebeast's ears perked. "Would you prefer it with fatalities?"

"No, we killed enough." For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to brush off the casualties as usual. "Scare them away, make them an example of how things work in Gensokyo now." With the Hakurei out of the way for a while, this world was her personal playing field. Sharin still had no idea why they were going all the way up to the moon, but she chose to not think of it for now. They won't have time to pull whatever trick they were planning.

"As you wish."

* * *

 **A\N: I spent a legit week trying to remember what was I supposed to do on this site - ouch! Really sorry for the delay, will come more often from now on. Jeez, isn't it sorta annoying how a lot of youkai don't know what their fellow creepy-crawlies do?**

 **Reimu's inner monologue is fun to write, I gotta admit.**


	3. Succor, Just not With Silence

They had given her a test. Her first mission as an honorary soldier of the order. She'd heard about the matter offhandedly from her seniors, that a band of the most respected tribesmen around have come seeking assistance. She could barely believe the words falling from her fellow grunt's mouth even though others – others who are much more reliable – have given testaments of its faithfulness.

She listened as she heard of men standing before her senior, bearing war-hardened faces, unnervingly softened by their urgency and worry. She could imagine it before her, the man in the lead, clearly the one with the best speech skills, begins to talk in a grave voice, barely keeping himself collected. "We apologize for the intrusion, your radiance, but it is an urgent matter…" And that's when her leader, with her ever so virtuous posture and forgiving nature, comforts their strained nerves. "You have no need for titles or apologies. What is it that you wish?" One of them elbows to the front of the crowd, he must be the one who pursues assistance. "Please, it's – it's my daughter! You must save her!"

And that's how Sharin was standing at the busted door of an abandoned basement with at least five other Crescent soldiers patrolling the grounds. The site was in the middle of a destroyed town, left for ghosts to dwell in. She could tell that this place has been populated by a heavy amount of people before though, it was natural for them to think they would be safe in such a sacred place of worship. Now, it was nothing but ruins, an empty courtyard with half a wall and parts of a dome suspended dangerously to it. "What a mess." Muttered the soldier to herself, eyeing the way her fellow escorts seemed to think they were on a sightseeing trip. True, they barely got any opportunities to leave their headquarters, but this was no excuse to fool about. She called over to one of the lower-ranked troopers – a highly superstitious, religious greenhorn who was eyeing the scarce remains of pillars surrounding them with quite the panicked expression. Sure enough, she jumped at being called after too. "Come on Noor, we don't have the entire day!"

"Can't you shut up? You'll disturb the spirits."

Sharin just snickered, wryly and cruelly. "The only spirit we'll see here will be yours if you don't move it." She gestured to the door. "Help me pick this up."

"Seriously, Sharin. Stay quiet." The newbie was younger than her by at least 3 years, but she was good at her work. 12 successful missions without a single error, 8 evacuations from toxin-attacked cities and one superstorm nullification. A record worthy of being framed and put up on a wall. They got along better than most of the others, Sharin had to admit. Even if she thought Noor was a little… well, stupid, she still had some respect for the greenhorn, and she actually agreed on how necessary were some morally dubious operations unlike those punks. They carried the heavy, half-rotten wood over to the side and dropped it with a heavy bang. "You aren't helping here, y'know." A heavy stench rose from inside the underground chamber, one of decay and mold and – if one focused enough, death. "God, it reeks in there." Noor took a couple of steps back, not as tolerant as her smell-immune friend. She looked as if she'd throw up any second, but both knew she had nothing in her stomach. They both wanted to skip the operation already, it's been years since that hole was opened, and both knew what this sort of isolation for that period of time would do to someone.

"that kid's probably dead already, don't you think?"

The two looked at the gaping hole with varying expressions, ranging from disgusted to cautious. Both didn't want to venture deeper, for either personal or ethical reasons.

"Still, we have to find the corpse. Least we can do for her father."

Sharin put both hands together, a fake, dreamy sigh escaping her. "Oh dear, so kind and caring, I think I'm going to vomit."

Noor let out a small chuckle, knowing she's going to regret signing up for this soon. "Cut it out, dummy."

* * *

The Dream World.

It was even more beautiful than what they claimed in the books. Never-ending horizons, swirling wisps of reveries curling in an unseen wind, and the _birds_. The birds soaring elegantly in the void without a care in the world. A reflective, almost unseen ocean composed from endless wishes of the living splashed at their feet as Reimu and Seija flew, occasionally destroying the mischievous dreams of fairies and spirits with an annoyed snap of fingers. It still awed the shrine maiden even after visiting it before, the previously untouched dimension was nothing like the earthly chaos of Gensokyo, a sharp reminder to negate the thought life outside the protective barrier was not as spectacular. No, this was a universe of pure color, of suspense, of nothing yet _everything at once… so much memories – has it really been that long?_ "Snap out of it Hakurei! We might be in the Dream World but we're not here to sleep, you lazy shrine maiden!" In seconds, a seal slapped into the amanojaku's forehead, effectively silencing her. Reimu was starting to grow weary of the pseudo-oni's whining and grumbling when things were going the way they should be. "It must be some weird contrarian kink of hers." Muttered the brunette to herself as Seija palmed her face cautiously, removing the scrap of highly dangerous paper and throat-growling as the effects began to slowly wear off.

"Well, that plan went south." Reimu popped a ghost's dream into spectacular dust, watching as the amanojaku pinched her own cheeks, trying to get some words to come out. "You know, I might consider making the next one permanent, mutism suits you."

"MMMMPH!"

"Geez, don't you ever take a break?" The shrine maiden rolled her eyes and sighed. "You've been yelling all the way up here, consider this your day off." Narrowing her eyes at the dreamscape Reimu furrowed her brow in thought. They've invaded the dream world and made a mess by bulldozing through the dreams, and Doremy Sweet should've been here by now to smugly – attempt to – kick them out, but so far there hasn't been even a glimpse of the Baku. Maybe she's taking the day off? Her train of thought was interrupted, however, when something collided softly with the brunette's head, a pale blue danmaku arrow; Reimu yelped and immediately opened her mouth to yell some insult at the amanojaku only to see the horrified, frantic distress painted all over her face, and the eyes widened in deep shock and fear. It didn't take the brains of the moon to understand Seija had seen some unspeakable horror so disturbing, her instant reaction was to fight back – or more accurately run.

"Ah.. Ah-hah…" She muttered weakly, eyes still locked on the dangerous unseen horror as she started to take a few quivering steps back. Reimu was puzzled for a second, not exactly following, before a sharp brief shriek escaped Seija and the shrine maiden's senses went into full alert. She looked about, left and right, nothing was there except for the generic murky depths of the Dream World. "What's wrong?" She inquired, only to have the simple response of the amanojaku lifting a shaky finger to point directly at the horizon behind Reimu before buzzing off, flying as fast she could carry herself to escape whatever spooked her this badly. A bit unnerved herself by all of this, Reimu finally mustered the courage to turn around and face the unknown which appeared to be...

A sea of… cherry blossoms?

The coursing waves of soft pink petals engulfed all what there is to be seen on the far horizon, slowly but surely. They seemed to move on their own accord like a rumbling flock of finches, rolling around in the center to conceal a figure within. This was barely something to cause so much fright, and Reimu would've laughed at how much of a coward Seija was at the sight of some fragile flowers – and be angry at herself for being even a little scared. As the cherry vortex neared her however, they started to morph into sharp, glistening eyes, homing in with flawless trajectories at the brunette and shocking her motionless. She dodged the best she could, but they were scalding to the touch and cut like razors; the shrine maiden could barely escape them without getting some cuts and burns along the way. As she came closer to the center more flowers mutated into eyes and rolled down on her path, arching to meet her from the back as well. Their aim was near perfect, creating spherical paths around in the air as they rolled around, readying for another strike. Shooting some of her own bullets, Reimu came to the realization she could only beat this cruel spell-card with brute strength – Marisa style.

So she used one of her own spell-cards, her old reliable.

"Fantasy Seal!"

The colorful orbs erupted from behind Reimu and circled around the unknown figure, dismissing the flower-eyes in the process and colliding with the spell caster who appeared to be surprised by them, once, twice, and the spell-card went down. Suddenly, all of the remaining flowers and eyes morphed into little pink blobs of squelchy texture simply floating about where they stopped, some dripping into smaller pink blobs inside the gravity-less air. From within the ocean of murkiness emerged the defeated form of Doremy Sweet, rubbing her side where Reimu's magical orbs had hit. "Oof, take it easy will you?" Her hat curled about in the empty ocean of sludge, like it had a mind of its own as she picked up her book and shook it vigorously, trying to get the pages to dry. Reimu had no time to stare though, she had a scolding to give. Still angry over how easily she was duped and by whom, she broke into a yelling fit. "Are you insane!? You broke the damn rules! Spell-cards aren't supposed to cause injuries – I can get you exterminated for that!" Doremy listened, and listened as Reimu rambled more and more about the rules and Yukari and how Doremy had done the big ol' bad, but she got bored and pretty annoyed herself, which was clear by her snide "But you're not even injured, stupid."

"Huh? Don't take me as a fool, look at those–" the shrine maiden tried to gesture to where her cuts and bruises where, only to be met by clear, unbroken skin. She blinked, checked her arms and clothing again. Spotless. No rips, no burns, it was as if all the wounds she had suffered were only in her head. "…what? But how?"

"New spell-card. Still in testing so you had a great honor of experiencing its effects firsthand." Doremy picked herself back up, still wincing a bit from her side and checked her book for any corruptions. "It works based on subconscious fears of the opponent, so I don't have to waste time crafting bullets out of dreams I could serve for a more noble calling." Of course, by 'noble calling', she meant her never-to-be satisfied hunger. Rising up to be on the same level as Reimu she looked off to the horizon, in the direction of the Lunar Capital. "I'm relying more on it scaring intruders senseless like it did with that weird amanojaku – but you proved to be resilient so go on, hurry along or you might not catch up."

Reimu frowned, puzzled. Why was that stupid Baku acting so haughty? She was lucky to not get her smug smirk bashed in. still, her words did bring back their mission to the forefront of the brunette's mind, and she elbowed past Sweet – making sure the dream-eater knew how pissed she was and out into the direct Lunar path, scanning the sky left and right for Seija in the process. She just hoped her """companion""" didn't run herself into space and die there, if youkai could die in space. _Could they?_ The answer was going to come soon enough as the atmosphere around her began to dissolve into nothingness, and the distant purple lights of the Capital loomed ahead. There she was, taking a wild shot in the dark with a broken rifle and hoping to hit the mark.

But this was Gensokyo, and in Gensokyo common sense gets screwed over - This was proven by the torrent of danmaku that lit up her destination, previously occluded by the barrier that concealed the Capital from the naked eye. Familiar orbs snaked about the buildings and over the rooftops, grazing the ceilings and brick walls as they chased a figure in a white dress. Reimu stopped in midair, watching as Seija maneuvered about hopelessly, and was about to move towards her when a half-broken orb buzzed slowly next to her, trying to join in the flock again. It must've hit a wall by accident, probably the result of bad perception by its user, but everyone had smacked one orb into a wall once, it was simply physics. Reimu held it with both palms and brought it closer, watching as it weakly writhed in her hands. "Come on now, calm down. Where's your owner?"

The orb tumbled about in the direction of a large, pale structure not far from where Reimu was. There. The shrine maiden flew in the direction of the building, which appeared to be a Lunarian shrine of sorts. It appeared barren on the outside, save for the sole figure kneeling inside. Reimu walked up the marble steps, and pulled the sliding door to the side with one swift move. "Hey, you inside!" The figure remained motionless, trying desperately to ignore the shrine maiden. But she didn't know of that, because shrine maidens don't come with the default ability to read minds. "…"

Reimu cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled at the top of her voice, unknowingly causing all the orbs around the Capital to freeze in midair. "I SAID HEY! YOU DEAF OR SOMETHING?" The figure twitched once, then turned around to face Reimu. "…that's not it." Kishin Sagume eyed her with the deepest distaste you'd see on a Lunarian, or a divine spirit, or a goddess- well, you got the point. Somewhere, deep inside the Capital's trenches, Seija was blasting the orbs into nothingness, achieving sweet revenge as she made her way to where the brunette was. "Oh it's you. What are you doing here? And why are your orbs chasing Seija everywhere?"

"Who?"

"Kijin Seija. White dress, black hair with streaks, big ego and attitude. Flipflops…" As Reimu counted on her fingers, she realized how easily her companion stood out amongst a crowd. There weren't many… there were no amanojaku in Gensokyo save for Seija, which must be really lonely. But to her, it would be too crowded? All this contrary thinking made her head ache. However, she had no opportunity to say more, because Sagume cut her off with a short, snappy "never met, don't know. Leave." After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Reimu sighed. "Well aren't you straightforward." The shrine maiden shook her head, hands on her hips. Lunarians were such an infuriating bunch. irritating, wearisome, unpleasant, and this one was no exception. All she wanted to do was just find that darned Ame-no-Sagume person-

 _Wait a minute._

Reimu turned back to the doors, and back to Sagume, and her eyes widened as a ray of sudden mental illumination came upon her. It couldn't have been true. She was looking for someone she was unwillingly familiar with this entire time? Has Seija led her on a pointless hunt? She knew Kishin for more than a couple of years now and was still stopping an incident of her doing to this day- she was a lazy, sniveling, good-for-nothing, Lunarian hypocrite! All she ever contributed to Gensokyo were some balls that caused more harm than good with that entire Urban Legend deal. There was no way, no utter way she was THE Sagume, It was impossible. right? …Right? In the midst of that suspenseful moment, Seija came bursting through the doors with a stupid grin on her face and magic dust clinging to her, earning stares from everyone present.

"Aye Reimu, what did I… miss?"

* * *

 **A/N: "From one of the thicc fanfictions, an old probably-abandoned story slowly emerged..."**

 **But that's probably the most you'd see out of me in a while ;; I have no excuse.**


	4. Balancing the Blades

The Forest of Magic was in quite the commotion that night, with youkai crawling around the dirt paths, the ones not as well versed in the darkness as their peers holding torches to illuminate their way. Marisa watched the lights cast bright colours upon her ceiling and rolled over in bed, grunting. The sequel to the only incident she couldn't solve was unfolding right before her very eyes and she couldn't stop it, not without a culprit. With a heavy sigh, she closed her eyes. Reimu had left her shrine for quite the while now, gone in the early hours of morning, and Marisa would lie if she said she wasn't concerned about her friend's safety. It was very late into the night, and she was lying down on her bed, fully clothed save for her shoes, after interrogating the residents of Gensokyo a third time for good measure. She gazed at the lights flickering back and forth on her walls and roof, seeing a searing blaze in them, almost hearing the cackle and grimacing as the nonexistent scent of filthy smoke reached her nostrils. She rose out of bed, the reminder filling her body with fury-induced strength and an energy she knew was shortlived. She had to do something- she couldn't stay in bed and brood when there was a sick monster out there burning people to ash. Suddenly, a knock on her door tore her out of her thoughts. Marisa looked at the doorway in slight alarm, grabbing her mini Hakkero from where it rested on the nightstand and moved towards the door. The knocking returned, soft but determined, but before it finished Marisa opened the door half expecting a monster to tackle her into the floor-

But instead, a rather nervous Ichirin Kumoi stood at the doorstep, breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of Marisa in one piece. Her cloud companion hovered at her side, keeping an eye on the dark wilderness. "Ah, Marisa, sorry for waking you in the middle of the night."

Marisa blinked a few times before tucking her Hakkero in her back pocket, her guard no longer up at full force, but still wary. "Hey Ichirin, fancy seeing you here. Whatcha need?" The peppy tune felt forced, and she was sure Ichirin could tell so from the way her voice quivered slightly in the middle of that sentence. "Nothing much; Sister sent me here to make sure the youkai gathering causes no trouble, but seeing your house in such a state of abandon made me quite concerned about your safety- especially when a large group of youkai just passed through here." She smiled weakly, apparently worried sick, probably about the possibility of her mission going horribly wrong. "Glad to see you're safe and sound though."

Inhaling through her nose, Marisa smiled back. "Thanks, I'm fine." She couldn't blame Ichirin for worrying. The garden was overgrown by weeds, the walls were beginning to wear, and her windows were almost blackened by soot. She had spent too much time investigating to properly clean up. "'Tis strange though, that Hijiri would send ya alone out here to look after this horde."

"Well, the Taoists sent Futo to keep the humans in order, so it was only fair we come and help. You saw the mess Gensokyo has become, humans attacking youkai, youkai attacking humans... also, I'm not alone as long as Unzan is with me, and he's here all the time! I always count on him." She glanced over at her cloud friend with a small grin who rumbled softly in response. Marisa watched the interaction between them and felt a small pit of sadness form in her stomach. She genuinely missed Reimu's support of her, the remarks and passing jokes and battles- she missed it all dearly. The conversation melted back into a passive crawl as Ichirin fidgeted in place a while before rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. "Ah well, I should be on my way before the youkai cause any trouble-" But Marisa cut her off with a sudden huff. "Oi, if you really gonna go look after all 'em all with the china set, imma tag along."

"R-really?!" The nun asked, a little too excited before she collected herself, trying to sound professional. She was still a representative of the Myouren Temple and that title held responsibilities to it. She couldn't get too excited at the idea of tagging along with a known youkai exterminator. "I mean, really you don't need to." Marisa shook her head, grabbing her broom and slipping into her shoes. "'Tis not like I got better things to do..." she sighed before riding the broom and flying up into the sky. Ichirin simply shrugged before she trailed after Marisa and along the treeline. They landed at the edge of a large clearing where youkai of all types and sizes were gathered, some holding lanterns and others with torches. Ichirin greeted Mononobe no Futo with a small wave, to which the other replied with a nod. Despite their opposing faiths, they got along quite well and actually teamed up once or twice, no matter how outlandish it might sound.

"We cannot accept this!"

Marisa watched the noise increase with disinterest. Beside her was Futo, counting plates nonchalantly as the crowd roared with activity, staying as backup in case something unsavoury went down. The beasts were all gathered around a makeshift pedestal where the Myouren Temple's worst diplomat grasped for arguments. "Trying to fight our way out of this will not end well, you know how the sages will react-"

" _Screw them!_ " A ghoul from the crowd shouted, a statement others began to echo with equal enthusiasm. "When have they stepped in for us in a situation like this?!" Cried a cursed ghost from the thick, tired lot. "I can't even pass to the afterlife even if I wanted to, so why do I _have_ to suffer from this injustice while they lounge?" Fellow beasts and monsters growled and stomped in agreement, all appalled by the attack on their feeding, housing and lives. Some called for a court, and some _demanded_ that they go to the human village and rip their rights by the tooth and claw. Hearing this and seeing how Ichirin was getting blown into wisps by the crowd's words, Futo sighed and stepped into the circle, trying to knock some sense into them. "Doth thou very regard this could work?"

The crowd's ramblings slowly began dying down as the boatmaster placed both hands on her hips. "'tis stupid to try such a risky mission, **suicidal** e'en, all of thou shall be dead where thou stand if a sage deems it appropriate for peace!"

"It's true, you know full well that our hands are as tied as yours. We can help the efforts to rebuild and fix our relationship with humankind, but war will get us nowhere." Ichirin interjected, her confidence back. "It will only rip us of our already scrace food source, and really, who wants famine now?" She felt the tension falter as a few approving murmurs came from the crowd. "Thou might crave to complain of injustice, yet watch thy reasonable shores. We nor the shrine maidens or witches can protect thou from the sages' wrath." Futo said from her place beside the pedestal, eyeing the youkai with a critical eye. "It's painful, the current situation, but we cannot do much while the incident is still taking place."

Slowly, the creatures began to echo their stance, and relief washed over the two. From the sidelines, Marisa smiled at the sight. _About time we saw something pleasant._

XXXX

Wisps of smoke floated from the burnt out lanterns left by the youkai, and the faint smell of burning rubber filled the air. Watching as the last few youkai snuck back to their dens, Marisa looked around the clearing where papers lay discarded, makeshift torches sat planted into the ground and the hastily built props were being dragged away by Ichirin and Unzan. "It sure is exhausting to talk sense into a crowd, I cannot fathom how Sister does it every day." She yawned as her cloud companion continued the work in her place and sat down gracelessly on the soiled ground next to where Marisa stood, clearly tired of being the Gensokyo spokesperson for the day. "How are you holding up?" She glanced questioningly at Marisa who simply shrugged it off. "I manage."

"Well, you sure don't look like it." She picked up a shred of paper to wipe her brow with. "You worried about the conflict?"

"It's the last thing we need, yknow? I really can't deal with any more bullshit." Marisa stretched her sore arms and tried to change the topic, as she really didn't want the other to see how much it bothered her; how hopeless and clueless she felt. _The last thing we need is panic._ "So, who's gonna clean this mess? Sure hope it ain't me."

"I don't see anyone else with a broom, and Futo would rather fight me to the death than get one of her precious plates a little dirty." Throwing herself onto the soft cloud that was Unzan's arm, Ichirin rubbed her eyes wearily. It was well into the morning hours by now, and the purple haze pooling into the horizon indicated dawn was near. "I think I'll take a nap, I haven't slept in a fortnight." The lettered page dropped out of her grasp and caught a breeze, clinging to Marisa's leg. Curious, the witch picked it up, examining the few words still legible after the sure beating this paper took. Her eyes widened upon seeing Reimu on the front page, standing with her hand latched onto... Kijin Seija? The amanojaku? What could they be doing together on Youkai Mountain? Confused, Marisa read the headline.

" **SHRINE MAIDEN ON THE HUNT, INFERNO INCIDENT "SOLVED ALREADY"** ". She read it once, then twice, then realization hit her like a spark. Reimu was already on someone's trail, and Seija was the key to finding them. Was it possibly another amanojaku? A youkai of her acquaintances? Seija had no friends, or none that she knew of.

Now with her incident-solving instincts in full swing, Marisa tried to read the date, but to her dismay it was smudged off as well as a part of the picture. She tried to shake Ichirin awake to ask her if she knew anything, but the nun only hummed softly to herself, clearly dozed off. "Come on, Ichirin, you just closed your eyes!" But it was fruitless. It appears that the lack of sleep has caught up to her. Marisa sighed, looking towards Unzan. "Hey, willing to help a buddy out?" He rumbled in response; a vague answer before he thundered loudly, jolting the sleepless girl out of a well-desired rest. "Aw come on, Unzan-!" She stopped mid-sentence, noting how Marisa looked as if she were sick with glee, a strange combination of emotions. "Marisa?"

"You know when this paper was written?" Marisa asked, handing over the paper to her. Ichirin tapped her chin with a finger, looking over the newspaper scrap and thinking. "Hm... Ah! This came out a couple of days ago, I remember scrubbing the temple bell with it..." She trailed off, seeing the half-smudged image printed over the other side. "Hey, is that Reimu?"

"It is, and we need to find her." Determined, Marisa picked up her broom. "She knows who's after this- or at least, has a clue. We must help her, it's the only way we can stop this turmoil." The power had returned to her voice, with a newfound hope of finally putting this matter to rest.

As if on cue, a barrage of danmaku lit up the night sky. Bursting out of a thicket of branches, Futo raced past the two, seemingly out of breath as she yelled at them to get out of the way... _probably._

"Rise of mine brow! I hast to find the Crown Prince!" Grabbing the panicked Taoist by the collar before she sped past, Marisa demanded a clarification. "Rise of _what?_ What's going on?" But as it turns out, Middle English is still hard to understand, even when calmly said. "There is a monster 'i the woods, _'tis nought like I've aye seen!_ we might not but hie ere it is too late!" She cried, pointing at the sky where the bullets had flown.

There, amidst the stars shining above was a lone figure in dark robes, ebony hair streaked with silver, and an aura of death surrounding it. A maniacal grin formed upon its face as it raised a hand, declaring a spell card. "Occult Sign, [Sun of Great Knowledge]!" Almost instantly, the earth below began to sizzle. Trees' branches started to wilt, and a deep orange bloom filled the sky. Ichirin fought back tears, which Marisa mistook for fear. "Don't worry about it, we got your back-" But Futo had already left.

"That's not it!", cried the nun in response as they got into a battle stance. _"I just wanted to take a nap!"_

XXXX

 **A/N: Hi.**

 **I have 0 excuses but my weak memory and laziness. I admit the fans of this fanfiction have struggled far too often with my long update times, but I'm going to try my hardest! Also chapter 1 has received an intro edit as it appears to have been too violent? I apologize for any inconvenience.**

 **Just remember:**

 **English English English**

 **touhou touhou touhou**

 **fanfiction fanfiction fanfiction**

 **-probably a clever person**

 **Thank you, and goodnight.**


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